Biography
I have an interdisciplinary background focusing on heritage. I received my bachelor's degree in Management from Sun Yat-sen University researching heritage tourism and adaptive reuse of heritage, and my master's degree in Landscape Architecture from Peking University focusing on cultural landscape, memory, locality, and urbanisation. When studying as an MPhil candidate in Cambridge, I explored heritage management and finished my dissertation on developing understanding of the risk of heritage through multi-methods. After graduating in 2020, I worked as a research assistant committed to the research on sustainable heritage tourism in Sun Yat-sen University.
From business management, urban planning, to the nature of heritage, my PhD project in Cambridge focuses on the Yangshao Culture’s commercial exploitation of branding. Specifically, it aims to study how the culture was used as a brand and what effects have been caused by that, such as how the exploitation impacts people’s understanding of the past and economic lives.
Research
I have several research interests: heritage management, heritage tourism, and cultural landscape. I am interested in how to exploit and manage heritage in a sustainable way, particularly through heritage tourism. I agree that heritage should be used for the present. Therefore, I would like to research the development and influences of the commercial exploitation of heritage. I pay attention to exploring the adaptive reuse of ‘abandoned or redundant’ heritage too.
I am also interested in studying how heritage is understood by the public from a management perspective, particularly in the interpretation of heritage. As for methodology, I am interested in mixed methods, including quantitative and qualitative methods so as to break the gap between the methods and to find more.
Key Publications
Zhang, C., Lin, S. Ce, Q. (2021). Taking, Learning, or Integrating? Development of Chinese Cultural Citizenship. In Guo, Z. (eds). Routledge Handbook of Chinese Citizenship. New York: Routledge. (ISBN 9781032126913)
Gao, J., Lin, S., Zhang, C. (2020). Authenticity, involvement, and nostalgia: Understanding visitor satisfaction with an adaptive reuse heritage site in urban China. Journal of Destination Marketing & Management. 15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2019.100404
Wang, F., Lin, S., Liu, X., Jiang, C., Li, J. (2019). Narrative space of former residences in old Beijing city amidst societal transformation. International Journal of Tourism Cities. 6 (2), 297-316. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-02-2019-0035
Zhang, C., Lin, S., & Gao, L. (2016). The Role of Community in Industrial Heritage Redevelopment: Evidence from Taigucang Wharf, Guangzhou, China. Asian Journal of Tourism Research, 1(2), 147-166. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4b7a/ce90d0821b31caffee3ab88205e977d6f433.pdf
Teaching and Supervisions
Supervisor: Prof. Marie Louise Stig Sørensen
Advisor: Dr Liliana Janik